We are happy to introduce Lisistrata, an unforgiving and unconventional RPG-Visual Novel hybrid that elevates the importance of Tactics, Choices, Character Progression and Resource Management.

Immersed in an ancient Greece setting, you will recruit, train and lead a team of Athens’ young girls through battles, challenges, critical choices and beyond. It will be up to you to organize an effective rebellion against every man of Athens. It will be your responsibility to stop a war that has been endured for decades.
Once inside the Acropolis everything will be in your hands.
Choose different skills, improve buildings, elaborate new tactics, betray, seduce, be a diplomat or a warrior. The game (and its characters) will be shaped entirely by you.
Inspired by Aristophanes’ great work
Also known as the “Father of Comedy” and “The Prince of Ancient Comedy”, Aristophanes lived between 446 - 386 BC and inspired thousands of people in ancient Greece. We would like to do the same by bringing his legendary work back to life and expanding upon its original linearity while still remaining faithful to the source.

“I’ve had enough of these wars!! Enough! We can not keep living like this!”

“I'm tired to be neglected by my husband!! His sword will not warm his bed for sure! I've made up my mind: Starting from now we say no more! We shall strike!"

“If they won’t listen to us, they will sleep alone from now on. It will be a torture for them!!”

And so every woman in Athens left their home and took the Acropolis - the heart of the city, as well as the place where the most important resources are held. They decided to offer no more company or affection whatsoever to those man who have been so busy making war.
Finding the means and forcing them to declare peace is your objective…

... but managing the Acropolis and your group at the same time while keeping the morale high, won’t be an easy task.

Unlock new abilities, forge your character, make the Acropolis a safer place and assemble your team!
Level up and make your build unique

During the game you will be able to choose different abilities by gaining experience and leveling up your character. Feel free to choose what you like based on your playstyle, there is no best way to beat the game.

34 Skills gathered in 4 different branches.- Athletics
- Intelligence
- Charisma
- Luck
Of course it won’t be possible to unlock them all. Choosing your specialties and making decisions will be incredibly important and it will also increase the game replayability.

Build the Acropolis
Better walls, easier access to water or maybe earning the favor of the Gods? Everything counts! But consider… It will take time, which you won’t be able to spend to acquire new skills. Hmm, decisions, decisions…

Of course the angry men and the soldiers will not remain idle for long. They didn’t like Lisistrata’s little plan one bit and they will do everything in their power to sabotage your rebellion. They will strike back quickly and it will be quite challenging to survive.

Your Skills under a magnifying glass
Everything you do, every path you take, every decision you make will present the player with small challenges to overcome: Skill checks.
On a successful skill check the player may acquire various advantages that will help the game progression in general; upon a failed skill check the consequences may vary from minor to catastrophic and they may be suffered immediately or later in the game.

Therefore, it’s not advisable to Swim if your character has not yet unlocked that ability, you may regret this... Death in this game is permanent.

Turn Based Combat

Strategize with party order, party composition, and unlocked skills against a huge variety of enemies.
When diplomacy fails, it’s time to put your abilities to good use!

Each one of our heroines have their own strengths and weaknesses so be careful and evaluate the situation very carefully before choosing who to bring with you in combat.

Managing a good mix of abilities is the key to victory.
Also we've added some modern RPG concepts on top of this structure; these include AoEs, DoTs, grapples and combos, creating a tactical battle full of depth.

Who will oppose you...

Our heroines!

More characters to come!
Thanks for reading so far!

We are a young indie studio but this is not our first Visual Novel! We are always looking for new ways to improve so this time we decided to be as much open as possible towards the community. We learned from past experiences that getting some honest feedback is the most important part and this time we will apply this to the letter.
- What do you think about our project in general?
- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?
- Do you believe the RPG-VN mix could work?
- Is there anything you would change or improve?

We are eager to work with you guys and keep discussing with you about this project. This is our most ambitious work and we are very passionate about it, we really want to create something that will not be forgotten after a week... at least we hope so! =)

- What do you think about our project in general?
Totally adorable and shiny and awesome wow! The setting is like my dream come true (ancient Greek, sobs), the women empowerment theme is a win, the art is so shiny and pretty, the gameplay looks like it's going to be fun. I just. I can see this is going to be my favorite. I'm definitely going to buy. ;;;

- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?
Yes, yes, YES. I'd love to see how it plays out. I really love how you present it too, with the chibis. They're just too adorable.

- Do you believe the RPG-VN mix could work?
With the right amount of story and gameplay, definitely! I think it works better when it's RPG first, then VN. If it's the otherwise, excessive gameplay will wilt other's to continue on with the story, especially if it hinders them to just read through the story. When it's RPG first, though, more story is nice. Examples would be Fire Emblem and Harvest Moon. They are gameplay and resource management first before the story. But the story is where the heart lies.

I could be mistaken, but that's my personal opinion about this whole thing.

- Is there anything you would change or improve?
Give the main guard a name, lmao.

I also hope your choice of fonts in the character's description box won't be used throughout the game. For titles or names, it's okay, but it's tiring to look at if it's also the main body of the dialogue, especially with the lack of contrast between the box (grey) and the fonts (white/muted yellow) like that.

Maybe more guy mobs to fight too? I really hope the gramps and the main guard aren't the only people we have to prove our skills to.
best of lucks! I'll be following closely aaaaa!

Everything visual about this game is superb: the art, the gui, the skills icons.

The theme is a somewhat all-or-nothing scenario, it can go really well if handled correctly, or it can go Rey-from-Star-Wars. I guess that's the case for all political themes. Do try to make it somewhat morally gray on that part, otherwise it can end up feeling preachy. For example,as far as I know, females weren't allowed to act in Ancient Greece. This could play a central part in Mirrina's character, maybe she wanted to become an actress and she wasn't allowed, or worked at the Amphitheater under disguise, all this being the reason she chose to join the rebellion. Of course, that all depends on how historically accurate you plan on making the project.

The skill system and the RPG elements are great, it's one of the best ways to reduce linearity and increase immersion.
One problem I can find with the combat is that it can become tedious and meaningless, like in the Sunrider games on steam. I guess that could be only me, since the reason I like VNs is that they offer a great story without the hassle of mindless gameplay, just like philosophy offers just the morale of the story, without the actual story. If it has variety and relevance to the plot I'm sure it'll be a great addition to the VN elements.

Having a passion in anime is a great way to make friends.
For me it's the other way around. Getting friends came with the added clause of having to become an anime fan. Still not sure if it was worth it.

Hey, this looks really promising! I really love that you'll be able to customize your characters in that way. I personally hope that the RPG element will not be super big, as this looks like a great VN and I really enjoy playing through a nice story. Sometimes I find combat tiring, but it's a nice change especially if it breaks up the pace of the game a little bit.

You haven't said a lot about building the Acropolis. How will that work?

Will most of the skills have an effect on combat? How important will non-combat skills be?

Thanks everyone for your comments!
Let me just reply to you guys, there are some really great points being made here so I'm kinda hyped.

- What do you think about our project in general?
Totally adorable and shiny and awesome wow! The setting is like my dream come true (ancient Greek, sobs), the women empowerment theme is a win, the art is so shiny and pretty, the gameplay looks like it's going to be fun. I just. I can see this is going to be my favorite. I'm definitely going to buy. ;;;

- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?
Yes, yes, YES. I'd love to see how it plays out. I really love how you present it too, with the chibis. They're just too adorable.

Thank you so much! It took us a very long time to create an art design and UI that feels right! An Ancient style can be tricky especially because we wanted to give the game a little touch typical of modern times... and of course some colorful elements like chibis, typical of anime games. The game is still being developed so there is plenty of time for testing and further improvements. We are here for this!

Give the main guard a name, lmao.

I also hope your choice of fonts in the character's description box won't be used throughout the game. For titles or names, it's okay, but it's tiring to look at if it's also the main body of the dialogue, especially with the lack of contrast between the box (grey) and the fonts (white/muted yellow) like that.

Ahaha No! The main guard never tells his name! Or to be precise, no one ever cares to know it! Despite his attempts, he gets interrupted every time he has a chance to tell it. Maybe we can create an Easter egg for this or make it very hidden, like a secret achievement. Or is that too much of a cliche?

You are right, the character presentation boxes are kinda hard to read. We will replace them and make the font more readable asap.
Concerning our game, like in our previous one, everything that appears inside our textbox is customizable:
Font type, font color, font text-shadow, weight/size, dialogue window, color and so on...

For example,as far as I know, females weren't allowed to act in Ancient Greece. This could play a central part in Mirrina's character, maybe she wanted to become an actress and she wasn't allowed, or worked at the Amphitheater under disguise, all this being the reason she chose to join the rebellion. Of course, that all depends on how historically accurate you plan on making the project.

That is an awesome point!
Actually there is an incredibly interesting article about woman in ancient Greece that exactly tackle this topic. Let me link it:https://www.ancient.eu/article/927/wome ... nt-greece/
And yes, we perfectly agree with you. We created a full fledged backstory for each of our heroines in order to justify this kinda of exception. We really don't want to include spoilers but, if you are really interested, we will be happy to invite you to beta test the game (when it will be ready).

One problem I can find with the combat is that it can become tedious and meaningless, like in the Sunrider games on steam.

A really bad designed turn based combat system may be annoying and repetitive, I do agree with you.
But, in my opinion, Progression is the thing that keeps people engaged with the combat part too.

Think about the Pokemon games for example:
The combat is pretty much the same if you look at it bare bones... anyway those game are incredibly fun, why?
Because you train your pokemon, you constantly gain new techniques, you can change your pokemon moves, use different combos, you can also evolve them and so on... the entire system is always progressing.

Concerning Lisistrata, I'm not saying that you will go on and catch Corifeo with your pokeball but leveling up your character, unlocking new skills, obtaining new techniques and combos will be a thing. And of course we will do countless tests in order to make sure the game is really fun to play!

Thanks everyone for your comments!
Ahaha No! The main guard never tells his name! Or to be precise, no one ever cares to know it! Despite his attempts, he gets interrupted every time he has a chance to tell it. Maybe we can create an Easter egg for this or make it very hidden, like a secret achievement. Or is that too much of a cliche?

So that's the running gag? Nevermind then, it sounds interesting. The Easter egg sure will be fun, haha!

Sorry for the wait! We wanted to gather some additional interesting material before posting again.

Will most of the skills have an effect on combat? How important will non-combat skills be?

Each one of our 34 skills brings advantages both in combat and out of combat. They will help you win challenges, fights and survive difficult situations. You never know when the story will present you a skill check, better be prepared!

You haven't said a lot about building the Acropolis. How will that work?

Every time you level up and/or between chapters the game will give you the following option:
What shall we do?

What you decide to do it's up to you. A better Acropolis will mean a better defense against incursions, a better morale for your heroines and other buffs.
We will show you something very soon but those kind of improvements are designed to make the general environment a better place for you. On the other side, skills bring more specific bonuses.

Also here is a detailed preview of our Athletics branch.

I almost forgot, we revamped our character sheets, thank you for your suggestions so far, keep them coming! =)

- What do you think about our project in general?
It looks fun, i used to play a lot of age of mythology when i was a teen, so this bring memories.
Also i love the heroines design specially Lisistrata hairstyle.
Also women kicking ass is always enjoyable! battle maiden ftw!

- Do you like our skill system and the possibility to build your character as you like?
Yes!, customize my character skills and stats seems to be fun here.

- Do you believe the RPG-VN mix could work?
Yes, i think it will work, i like rpgs and visual novels, so for me this is cool.

- Is there anything you would change or improve?
I agree with @runeraccoon, the typography its difficult to read, maybe you could use another one similiar to that but with more easy reading?
Will it be posible to change the weapons the heroines use? you know like the typical rpg where you find better and prettier weapons?

Good luck with this game! it looks creative and fun, i love the art it reminds me of the old fire emblems art the ones in game boy advance.(no, i havent played the new ones,i am an oldhag XD)

@Ermytarya That is an Awesome idea! Thank you soo much! Adding items such as weapons and equip will really make things more enjoyable + I was also thinking about clothing and character accessories. What do you think?

@CeeCeeVA Thank you so much for your kind words, we also updated the font for our Athletics skills branch tree.

Oh we have some other art to show! Let's the developer blog going ahah!

Second, as suggested by many people, we finally decided to start a Kickstarter campaign.
We are perfectly aware that it is forbidden to post a link if a demo is not available. So I guess the info will just do.
Feel free to find us if you are interested!

What you decide to do it's up to you. A better Acropolis will mean a better defense against incursions, a better morale for your heroines and other buffs.
We will show you something very soon but those kind of improvements are designed to make the general environment a better place for you. On the other side, skills bring more specific bonuses.

This is interesting. Will there be resources such as lumber, stone...? Or is that too much RPG? Maybe I want a more developed VN side...